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“Talent is audacity, free spirit, broad ideas”
Anton Čechov
Perhaps it would be good to abandon the myth of talent and rediscover the parable of talents, described in the Gospel according to Matthew: it tells of a gentleman who, having to leave, entrusts a servant with five talents – the currency of those ancient times -, a second servant with two and a third with three. The first two, taking advantage of the sum received, managed to double the amount; the third instead goes to hide the talent received and buries it. On his return the gentleman praises the work of the first and condemns the third instead, because he did not make it fruit his only talent, as he did not share it with others and didn’t make it grow. He did not feed him; he didn’t cultivate it; he did not ask anyone for help to enhance it and this was his fault. A fault that today, in these times of deluge of talent shows, seems almost antiquated and paradoxical.
What is there to understand? We have always been transmitted the idea that it is that element that either you have it (and then everything is possible) or you don’t (and then better to give up). That something, written in our genes, which some think they can recognize from an early age thanks to the progress of science and which, in a not too remote time, could perhaps be designed in laboratories.
But is it really like this? What does “having talent” really mean? There is no doubt that natural predisposition is an important ingredient in the recipe for success. However, by this reasoning it is as a way that one builds a mythology, an alibi to say that, if you have not been a winner in a lucky genetic lottery, we have no responsibility.
By giving credit to the idea that success is an already written in destiny, one makes a double mistake: on the one hand, one’s does not recognize the work necessary to make talent flourish; on the other, a culture is nurtured that irresponsibility and prevents growth. Thus building within us self-induced limits and barriers. Instead, I believe in a logic of talent that is plural, dialogic, integrated: one must identify one’s talent and understand how to use it. Because someone else, rest assured, will understand how to use his. It takes talent too to recognize the nature of what one’s own.
As a former student of Accademia, I discovered that my personal “gift” was not to create clothes, but to create articles, reflections, essays on the world of fashion. It is here that the maieutic and fundamental function of the mentor, the master, the talent scout comes into play.
This is how I became the first male journalist to deal with fashion: there are teachers and people of great experience who helped me to germinate that talent of mine, when instead, if I had been abandoned to myself, I would have left buried.
But I also think that talent, tenacity and resilience support each other. In fact, there is no talent that can be expressed without a long process of maturation, commitment and dedication. Without true commitment it would have been lost, perhaps wasted and, in this sense, my career is paradigmatic of this path: discovering one’s own vocation and being capable; become aware of your strengths and weaknesses, working hard to make those talents that would otherwise remain unproductive.
Having talent means letting yourself be guided, at the beginning, by those who have more skills than us. But later, just like a plant, it is up to us to enrich it, increase it, hybridizing it with information from different sectors, always keeping the antennae of sensitivity and curiosity high and vibrant. But using all this information to build a personal language, an autonomous vision, a critical ability that belongs only to us. You have to have desire, passion and yes, courage too, without ever losing the humility of knowing more, knowing more, becoming better and better.
Studying within a structure such as the Accademia, the epicenter of different knowledge even if gathered under the tutelage of Costume and Fashion, can only serve to give our talent the strength and concentration of making a universal statement.